


Day 320

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [320]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:08:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27597319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [320]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 1





	Day 320

Lisa-Marie followed the apostate Sketch through the winding tunnels of Darktwon. Aveline had not wanted to spare her and Conrad for a full-time search but had given them leave to use every fourth day or so to go hunting blood mages in the dark. It was technically the templar’s duty to do this, but they would never have agreed to work with an apostate. Aveline, on the other hand, had been open to the idea, though Lisa-Marie supposed she should not have been surprised, given the company the Captain kept.

So far, they had not found anything noteworthy. Sketch had a map of Kirkwall’s sewers he was using to help find hidden areas in the city. Areas that might need a reliable way to get rid of large amounts of fluids. Lisa-Marie didn’t like thinking about the sorts of activities the ancient magisters would have though worth hiding away from the light of day… or what the meleficar hiding out in the city now might be doing.

Lisa-Marie had a gut feeling that something would be different today. Something in the air crackle with magic. Before her training, Lisa-Marie would have scoffed at anyone who said they could ‘sense magic’ but there was a different quality to the air where the veil was especially thin. Cullen had taken the anti-magic guard unit outside the city limits so they could feel the absence of a weak veil. Now that she knew what to look for Lisa-Marie was starting to be able to sense when there was a larger-than-normal fluctuation.

Sketch led them through what, at first glance was a field of bodies just left out in the open. As they approached, Lisa-Marie could see that a few of them were moving. These were the people who slipped through the cracks in Kirkwall, the ones the Chantry was supposed to look after. They were too sick to work or too poor to buy an apprenticeship and so they begged in the street until they starved, too weak to do anything. Whatever was going on was worst here, it was possible one of them might be a mage in disguise.

“Their suffering has weakened the Veil,” Conrad said. He had gone very pale and Lisa-Marie could see he was holding back tears. “Maybe the Qunari had it right, they don’t allow this in their cities.”

“Is that because they’re nice, or because they kill people who don’t pull their weight?” Lisa-Marie sneered. 

They started moving through the people, though Lisa-Marie wasn’t sure how they would be able to tell if one of them was a maleficar in disguise. The one of them grabbed her foot and snake their teeth into her calf. She was more surprised that he was able to bite through her armor than the pain.

The rest began getting to their feet as well with haunted moaning noises. Their eyes were glazed over like those of corpses and they moved like sleepwalkers. Lisa-Marie chopped the head off the one biting here but the jaws didn’t release until she kicked it off with her other foot.

“Hunger demons,” Sketch said. “These people starved to death down here and the demons were drawn through by their suffering.”

Hunger demons could sap the strength of a warrior, making everything take much more effort. Already Lisa-Marie was starting to feel it. It was like trying to lift her sword after a long day of training drills or, she assumes, a day without food. But this was something Avleine trained them for, to push through when their bodies wanted to give out.

As she and Conrad fought through the weakness to dispatch the demons, Sketch let loose with his own magic, conjuring a jet of fire that ignited the dry, dead bodies the demons were inhabiting. The fight itself did not take long, but their strength did not retire afterwards.

“This is exactly the sort of thing the templars should be on the guard for,” Conrad said.

“Are there meleficar around?” Lisa-Marie asked Sketch. The elf shook his head.

“I don’t sense any blood magic at work here,” he said. “Sometimes demons slip through by natural means. If the Chantry was as charitable as they claimed, things like this wouldn’t happen.”

“Then I guess this is another dead end,” she sighed. “We should rest before continuing the search. We’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

The elf looked like he wanted to protest but thought better of it. He guided them back to Lowtown and bid them farewell.


End file.
